We put the human back in recruiting.

Welcome

7 Second Resume

On average, a recruiter will look at your resume for 7 seconds before making a decision, so why should you put so much time and effort into your resume?First of all, those 7 seconds is a recruiters first look. If it grabs their attention, they are going to look deeper and spend more time getting to know your experience and what you can bring to the role.

The first 7 seconds are the deal breaker though and it isn’t just for recruiters.

Think about the last email you received from a company trying to sell you something. Let’s assumed you opened it and started scanning through to see what it was about. There is a good chance if they didn’t manage to grab your attention very quickly, you clicked delete and forgot about it. If something did grab your attention, you may have read more about what the offer was, maybe you clicked through to the website to find out more or even purchased something.

People often say that recruitment is a sales process and it is. The company is posting a job advertisement, trying to sell to you why you should work for them and be interested in this role. You are applying, trying to sell to them why you would be the best fit for the role. The interview where you are both selling to each other and then references where the company is asking previous employers (purchasers) to recommend you.

When you look at it from a sales point of view, it’s easier to comprehend that initial 7 seconds. You want the recruiter to buy-in to who you are and what you can do, you want them to be excited to read and find out more about you but you don’t need to pour hours into each application. Have a template resume that you can customise for each role and a separate document that has examples of achievements and experiences you have had. Then when you are customising your resume, you can add in the relevant points that address the criteria. This is also going to cut down the time it takes to write your cover letter.

A little bit of effort now to set these documents up is going to save you hours in the future. So take the time to make them. Make your cover letters and resumes compelling, be the person that recruiters want to spend more time getting to know.